Chapter 6 - Thou Art I.
/_\
It had to be said, knowing you aren't alone in a bad situation certainly boosts one's morale. A whole world of opportunities, plans, tactics, and strategies open up before your very eyes just knowing someone has your back. All Raylan had to do was concentrate on finding which one would have the best chance at success whilst keeping himself and Miles alive, uninjured if possible would be nice.
There was a myriad of other questions going through the back of Raylans' mind at this time as well. Questions about this dark mirror of their world, the shadows that inhabit it and their abilities, the powers both Raylan and Miles wielded, and of course his little butterfly friend he'd been seeing guiding them to their possible escape of this nightmarish reality. Unfortunately, now wasn't the right time to find answers to those questions.
There were the current issues he had to deal with first and foremost. The remaining shadows that were in the middle of a standoff with Miles and himself on one side and every other shadow on the other. Apart from the little downed Pixie next to him, obviously.
"You alright, Ray?" Miles asked just off to the side, sword aimed at Berith ready for any more attacks the shadow knight might have up his sleeve.
Was he alright? Not entirely, no.
He'd taken a good few hits thus far, so if he was to continue fighting he'd have to be cautious with how he fought. Any big mistakes could easily escalate this problem. It would go from bad to worse if he was taken out of the fight and had to leave Miles on his own. That couldn't be allowed to happen no matter what.
"I'll manage," Raylan replied somewhat diplomatically. No lie, as he was confident in himself that he could get through this, but not entirely truthful about how he was feeling.
"Don't wo-"
"This changes nothing!" Berith exclaimed, interrupting Miles, the horse rearing back in surprise at the sheer volume and tone of its riders' venom-filled words. "You are no stronger now than you were before! Your own weakness, your imperfections, your desire to protect one another will be your own undoing!"
His words, although aggressive, merely washed over Raylan. It wasn't even the first time he'd said it, but Miles didn't seem to feel like the idea of letting that one slide.
"This time is different!" Miles countered, swinging his sword and shifting into an alternate stance as if ready to parry or block an attack from Beriths' spear, "We're not just fighting for ourselves! Using our powers, our Personas', we'll make sure we both get out of this fucking city no matter what it takes!"
Seeing Miles stepping up to the plate like that, Raylan felt as though it was only right to back him up. To share in the conviction of his words and show they were in this together.
"The powers we have-," Raylan began, pushing himself back to his feet whilst keeping his blade pointed at the downed pixie next to him, "-are no longer just for our own use. With this power, we're taking responsibility for each other, to use our strength for not only ourselves but for those around us."
His words managed to draw a small smile from Miles. Berith and the shadows all bristled at the young man's words of determination. Even, it seems, the pixie by Raylans' side was affected by his words.
"Not just for ourselves…" The Pixie said, briefly drawing the attention of both young men. "To use your powers for others…" The shadow continued. "Yes… Yes! That's it!" The Pixie shadow burst out in excitement.
Raylan and Miles watched, cautiously, as the Pixie turned to stare at Raylan, looking directly into the slots where his eyes would be in his mask.
"Your conviction to protect one another is exactly what I've been searching for!" The little shadow exclaimed, "To serve a cause not just my own!" Raylans' arm that held the blade to the pixie began to crack, white lines appearing across its surface all the way up to his elbow just like when he'd summoned Sherlock.
"Allow me to aid in your conviction!" White cracks spread all across the little pixie shadow. White light burst from the cracks on the Pixie and Raylans' arms before the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the room with the pixies form breaking apart like glass before being absorbed into the cracks on Raylans' arm.
As soon as the pixie vanished, the lines on Raylans' arm retracted until they too were gone.
Raylan couldn't help but look at his arm for a moment, examining it up and down, even flexing his muscles. He could hear Miles mutter a swear from his other side.
"What depravity is this?!" Berith yelled, clearly startled by what he's just seen. As were the other smaller shadows next to him. Not a single one of them could muster up any form of insult or anger, most just seemed confused and slightly startled by whatever Raylan had just done.
But Raylan could feel what was going on, he felt a familiar surge of power within him. Just as Sherlock had given him his strength, now the Pixie had done the same. The power was there but it felt entirely different to Sherlock. Like they were two separate entities within him, he could sense both of them within.
Raylan smirked as he flexed his hand for a moment, standing up to move toward Miles. He stepped forward in front of his friend, smiled at the shadows, and punched the air once more.
Familiar white cracks formed across his arm and the air, glass shattering echoed throughout the room as Raylan called out a Persona.
"To me!" The young man yelled as the cracks shattered into blue flame, "Pixie!"
The flames swirled as the Pixie that had disappeared moments ago reformed just behind Raylan, floating daintially as it stretched out his arms and legs before fluttering up beside his head, ready to fight alongside the young man just as his own original Persona would.
Nobody had expected that.
And neither did they expect what came next.
"Dia!" Raylan called out as the Pixie twirled at the command. Similar green vines with magical circles formed around Raylan, little flowers fluttered around him for a moment as his body absorbed some of the strange energy.
It swelled through his body as he felt all the pain cease, any injuries he'd suffered thus far were healed in an instant. His body felt one hundred percent as if he'd never taken any injuries in the first place.
He was certainly ready for a fight now.
"Just full of surprises, aren't you?" Miles said as he stepped up to stand side by side with his friend. "It's just one after another with you, ain't it?"
Raylan smiled slightly, "You ready Miles?" His friend didn't answer with words, instead just nodding in agreement. Questions and talks could wait till later, now it was time to fight back.
Together their odds of success increased tenfold, Raylan alone had already slain three Jack-O Lanterns, one Agathion, and a Pixie by absorbing it. That left only one Jack-O Lantern, three Agathion, one Pixie, and Berith left to defeat.
"Not only are you vermin that invade the home of another, but you also take in the traitors as well?!" Berith roared, having composed himself after watching the Pixie appear beside Raylan and heal him. "For such crimes, I will take personal joy from your deaths by my own hands!"
"Agi!", "Zio!" There was a small flurry of lightning bolts and a single fireball thrown at the two young men. The two of them dodging the attacks with relative ease by leaping back, the fire and lightning strike the ground where they once stood leaving scorch marks and a few small indentations on the stone surface.
"To take down Berith we'll need to coordinate with each other, but we'll need to eliminate his support before we can focus solely on him." Raylan thought. Although they could possibly afford to ignore the smaller shadows to take down Berith first, the Pixie was the biggest problem at the moment. Healing off any damage they would manage to do made it pointless to strike at Berith first without slaying the Pixie first.
Until that Pixie was eliminated, they'd be here all day trying to fend Berith off.
"Miles," Raylan said, gaining his friends' attention, "Are you willing to follow my lead on this?" As he spoke he evaded another fireball by side-stepping to his right.
"Trust me, I'd rather follow you over lead myself right now. If you have a plan then I'll follow it to a tee." Miles replied, blocking a lightning bolt with his broadsword. "You can be the brains to this operation, I'll play muscle."
"Hmm," Raylan acknowledged, "Our priority is the Pixie by Berith." He gestured toward the shadow in question who floated off to Beriths side behind one Agathion and the last Jack-O Lantern. "Think you can take that Pixie down if I give you the opening you need?"
White cracks formed across Miles leg as he stomped the ground, spreading the cracks across it's surface before his Persona, Black Knight, burst forth behind him.
"Hit Berith with whatever you got before aiming for the pumpkin and the Pixie," Raylan stated before he too summoned Sherlock by shattering the air like a mirror, "I'll deal with the three Jars. Avoid Berith, I'll try to get his attention until we can deal with him together."
Both men darted forward toward their foes, Raylan leading by two steps. The duo closed in on the Agathions at the front of the formation, with Raylan picking up speed slightly, his cane sword in one hand and its sheath in the other.
"Zio!" Two bolts of lightning shot out from two of the shadows, which were blocked by Sherlock allowing Raylan to weave past the attacks to the Agathions. The closest one swung at him but that was what Raylan had been expecting.
He ducked low under the swing onto its right side before reaching with his cane sheath over to the shadow, Raylan hooked it across its back before rolling up and over the shadow. Using the force of the roll he dragged the jar around and threw the shadow into its fellow jar shadows, each one bouncing off the other as they fell like bowling pins.
With the way open, Miles gunned it for Berith.
"Black Knight!" His Persona hovered beside its summoner awaiting command, "Agi!" The rider atop the lions' back swished back and forth as the sword swung, fire forming at the tip of his sword before it was launched at the cavalry shadow, who wasn't prepared for the attack.
But to their surprise Miles' attack fizzled out as it struck the shadow head-on, little jagged black and red shapes appeared around Berith on contact. It was clear the attack did some damage but the knight shadow seemed about to resist it.
"He's resistant to fire?" Raylan thought as he moved to follow up on the attack to keep up the pressure, "Note to self, these things might be able to strug off our attacks easier than expected."
"Eiha!" Another dark, cursed energy struck Berith in the chest, this one seeming to do more damage than Miles Agi fire. He didn't resist curse it seemed. If that wasn't conclusive proof that Berith could eat fire attacks all day then what was?
Raylan moved to engage the now recovering Agathions as he heard Miles follow up on Berith behind him. He was forced to roll out of the way of a retaliatory Zio from one of the Agations, before backflipping to avoid a second.
"Cleave!" The lion swiped at Beriths' horse, striking the creature across the head which sent the shadow stumbling across the open room. It seems the lion is superior to the horse. It was the right move to follow up on his first weaker attacker with a stronger physical, it bought them a few more seconds.
However, with Miles focusing on Berith for longer than anticipated the last Jack-O Lantern closed in as fired off an Agi. His friend turned to intercept the incoming fireball but wasn't quick enough.
The fire hit his right arm, but, once again, they were surprised to see the same black and red jagged shapes formed around Miles once the fire fizzled out.
"Miles can also resist fire it seems," Raylan concluded swiftly. It made sense, the one who wields fire also resisted the same element. Did that mean he was resistant to cursed and dark energy? Something he would keep in mind for now.
Miles was quick to recover as well as he counter-attacked the Jack-O Lantern as he slashed the shadow once with a swift side swipe before finishing the shadow with a heavy overhead strike, splitting the pumpkin in half.
Raylan made a break for the Agathions, with sword and sheath in hand, he crashed into the closet shadow first as he cross slashed the body of the shadow before pivoting on the spot, using his arms as a support, donkey kicked the shadow in the head. The kick finished it off as it dissolved like the others.
Spinning back into an upright position, Raylan was quick enough to catch the swing of the second Agathion. His sword clashed with the base of the jar that had swung for his head.
Deadlocked, Raylan summoned Sherlock, slamming his free hand into the air as his persona burst forth from blue flames.
"Eiha!" The cursed energy surged toward the trapped shadow, at such close range the elemental attack enveloped the shadow as it killed it in an instant. It met the same fate as its companion.
That's when he caught the fainted movement in his peripheral vision. Knowing it wasn't Miles it could only be one other.
Raylan dodged the tip of Beriths' spear, dolphin diving out of the way, the spear pierced the ground he'd just been standing on. The shadow knight moved to continue to pressure Raylan with another swipe, this time aiming for his head, however, he didn't get the chance.
Raylans' partner intervened.
"Black Knight!" Miles summoned his Persona to his side again, his persona already moving to follow the command it knew was coming. "Lunge!" The rider atop the lion thrust their sword to the cavalry shadow, lunging for the center of the rider's helmet.
Berith dodged the strike, his stead leaping back with surprising agility, leaping back and out of range of Black Knights sword. With the added distance, Miles turned to continue with Raylans' plan. He rushed down the isolated Pixie, aiming to take it down before it had the chance to heal Berith again.
"Appreciate the assist Miles." He thought as he focused on Berith.
Seeing an opportunity, Raylan jumped at it. White streaks formed across his arm and air as Sherlock burst forth from the flames once more.
"Eiha!" Sherlock gathered dark, cursed energy within his hand and blasted it toward their foe. Dark energy surged toward Berith, colliding with the shadows spear arm throwing the knight off momentarily. The arm retracted swiftly as the horse jumped back in surprise, both mount and rider turning to face their attacker.
"Cleave!" Raylan avoided the spear by sweeping under and leaping offside, with Berith now on him and away from Miles he moved to eliminate the final Agathion. The little shadow attempted to retaliate with a "Zio!".
The bolt came straight at the young man but was intercepted by his persona, Sherlock, who roundhouse kicked the attack, disipating the electricity in the process as the attack fizzled out, leaving the shadow wide open.
Raylan practically hopped through the air as he closed the distance to his foe who attempted to wildly swing its lantern at him in some kind of last-ditch attempt to fend him off. Evading low, Raylan pivoted on his front to slide under the swing of the shadow, rearing back his cane sword before thrusting the blade straight through the shadows side, piercing through from one side of its form to the other.
It let out one last ghastly shriek before it dissolved into dark mist and completely faded from existence.
With the last Agathion slain, Raylan turned expecting to see Berith lunging for him but instead the calvary knight had swapped priorities to Miles. "Why go for the one you resist?" The young man thought. It didn't make sense why Berith would go for Miles when he resisted his Agi elemental attacks. Raylan could actually harm him with Eiha so why not take out the actual threat?
Raylan saw Berith lunging for Miles as his friend finished off the Pixie with the swing of his broadsword, slashing the shadow in half straight through the middle of his torso. The shadow shrieked as it perished, fading into a black mist until nothing remained of it.
"Miles!" Raylan yelled as his friend took the full force attack of Beriths' spear striking him on the left side. This attack seemed stronger too as a white and yellow energy surged from the spot Miles had been struck, as if it hit a critical point on his body.
Whatever it was it had done more damage than the average attack.
The attack threw Miles off his feet and threw him through the air, he landed with a tumble but otherwise recovered as he rolled into a crouched position. Although he did grasp at his left side ribs when he did.
Berith made to advance on Miles but Raylan dashed in to intercept him. White cracks formed across his air as he ran, slamming the glass as he closed in on the two.
"Sherlock!" His Persona formed as he sprinted toward Berith, "Cleave!" His persona blitzed past his user and struck Berith, the knight himself, with a spinning back kick to the chest. The impact knocked Berith back with his horse stumbling even more than he did trying to keep the rider on its back.
Raylan moved opposite the large shadow to Miles sliding to a stop next to him, his cane sword pointed in the direction of the knight. He wasted no time in assisting his wounded friend. White cracks formed on his arm, shattering the air like glass as he swung his free arm.
"Pixie!" A familiar Pixie formed from the blue fire that burst forth from the shattered white cracks in the air. "Dia!"
The green vines once again formed but this time around Miles, the magical circle below him grew alongside the plant life that surrounded him. The same green energy Raylan had absorbed to heal from his wounds soon receded into Miles as he too absorbed the healing energy.
As the visual effects of Dia faded Miles got back to his feet, rolling both his shoulders as he did.
"Whatever that is works wonders." He said as he took up position next to Raylan, his own broadsword held in his hands at the ready. Raylan could certainly agree to that given what it had done for him.
The pair focused in on Berith, who has recovered from the loss of balance and shock of Sherlocks cleave.
"You're resilient," Berith growled out in annoyance, twirling his spear from one hand to the other before allowing it to rest on the other side, "Perhaps I needed to be more viscous in my strikes." Although that wasn't a compliment it might as well have been taken as one.
The two persona users shifted their stances, prepared to make their next move. Given fire hadn't been effective against Berith their best option was to slay him with sheer physical might. Weapons and physical Persona strikes, that was what they needed to finally end this.
"I'm more agile than Miles," Raylan thought, "We'll need to use that to our advantage." Berith quickly examined Berith, his mind rapidly putting together a plan on how to deal with the large shadow.
"I'll follow your lead, Ray." Miles said, reaffirming the fact he was waiting to see what Raylan had in mind for their horseback foe. Time to put his plan into action.
"Aim low, I'll aim high. One each. Avoid using Agi, it doesn't seem to affect him all that much compared to my Eiha. Use physical attacks." He gestured with his cane sword to the legs as he said low. It took a moment before Miles realized what he meant, he responded with a got it once he pieced it together.
With that confirmation, Raylan led as he dashed forward with Miles a step behind him. He'd have to be the one to open the fight. If they played this right then they'd finish off the wounded Berith with ease.
"Eiha!" Sherlock let loose a blast of cursed energy as the two men broke off, with Raylan going to Beriths left side, the side with the spear in hand, whilst Miles went right. Berith disppearsed the his elemental attack by swiping his spear.
But that was apart of the plan. With the shadows spear on Raylans' side it left him open for Miles to strike.
"Lunge!" Black Knight's rider lunged with his sword, stabbing Beriths horse in the chest as the force of the attack stumbled Berith closer toward Raylan as his horse fell to one knee, its other three legs sprawling out to catch itself.
With Berith lower to the ground Raylan slid over to the shadow and ran up the downed horse, sword in hand he thrust upward as he reached the same level as the rider. The sword pierced Beriths form, running straight through the shadow's arm coming out of its shoulder.
The shadow shrieked but otherwise attempted to recover as best it could.
Miles, however, wouldn't allow it.
He closed the distance, and as he did he widened his stance before swinging wide with as much strength as possible. His broadsword cleaved through the shadow horses leg, the beast howled as it stumbled back down, now on two knees.
Raylan pulled his sword free and kicked off the shadow, backflipping through the air as Sherlock formed next to him in mid-air.
"Sherlock!" His persona burst into blue fire beside him, "Cleave!"
His persona rushed the heavily injured cavalry knight. When within range he reverse roundhouse kicked Berith with his blade feet. The heel of the kick sliced right through the shadow's neck, severing the shadow's head from the rest of its body.
Raylan landed in a crouch as he saw the head of their foe sore through the air for a few seconds.
The decapitated head of Berith howled in agony, as his horse whimpered collapsing to the ground before beast and rider dissolved into dark mist just like all the shadows before him. Finally defeated.
They'd done it.
Their personas' faded into swirling blue flames as everything settled, silence descended upon the room. It was peaceful despite the battle that had just taken place seconds earlier.
Raylan stood up from his crouch, sword sheathed in his cane. His eyes flickered toward Miles as he just hoisted his sword up onto his right shoulder, the metal of his broadsword and metal armor clinked before it settled into a position Miles was comfortable with.
"That-" Miles began, sighing for a moment before continuing, "That was something else. I'm not sure how we did that."
Raylan walked over toward the other young man, "Yeah, we worked surprisingly well together despite having only just met each other." They truly did work well together, their teamwork is likely what got them out of the poor situation they'd found themselves in. They'd watched each others back, and executed his plan to the best of their abilities. Not many people could work so well with someone straight away. "This wasn't how I expected my night to go."
"I doubt there is a single person on the planet that would have expected this to happen." The two young men turned to each other, "Gotta say, you know how to handle yourself even in weird as fuck situations like this." He swung his arm around him to gesture to the world around them. "Glad I was stuck here with you of all people." The last part was said with a bit of a weaker, feeble tone but still clearly audible to Raylan.
"As am I, I doubt either of us would have made it out alone."
"You make it sound like it was a good thing we were both taken to this hellscape." Raylan smirked at his comment but Miles continued, "But I get what you mean. I have to admit it, you pulled my ass out of the fire back in the alleyway." He looked Raylan in the face as he spoke, "And on top of that you were willing to take Berith and his shadows on alone to give me a chance to escape. Do you enjoy playing hero or something?" Raylan knew what he meant. With Jack earlier at the party, in the alleyway with his awakening, and Berith.
"It's just a simple hero complex, I swear." Raylan cheekily replied, momentarily lightening the mood. Miles chuckled at that comment before Raylan continued, "We should get out of here whilst we have the chance. More of these shadows could show up with so many of them around," They'd seen plenty of them on their run here after all, "let's take this opportunity and move."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Miles said as the two quickened their pace over to the swirling mess of black and white clouds battling it out in the hole above them. "I hope you're right about this."
"So do I." Raylan might not have been certain because of his own reasons but he did trust that butterfly, it was as though the butterfly was a part of him. Like his own instinct, it guided him toward the right path, and that lead him here. There had to be a reason for it. Right?
Well, there was only one way to find out.
"I'll test my own theory first," Raylan stated, it was only far to do so after all. It wouldn't have been right to send Miles in first, it was his idea so it had to be Raylan who went first.
He took a single step forward and leaped into the air, as soon as he was off the ground and below the hole above the gravity seemed to shift as he was spun in the air before falling into the swirling clouds.
As he disappeared into the darkness he glanced back to see Miles mid-jump, following what he'd just done, before everything went black.
/_\
The sound of glass shattering echoed in Raylans' ears before he felt a rush of wind hit his face, the world revealed itself around him as he appeared three feet off the ground. He didn't have time to react as the ground closed in on him, he bounced off the ground and rolled onto his side to minimize the impact.
It wasn't even a second later before he heard something land behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Miles land in a similar way as he had with a grunt from the collision with the ground. Raylan let out a sigh of relief. Grateful for the fact they'd both made it back alive and well, well enough given what they had just experienced.
Miles spoke first, without even looking over toward Raylan, "You good, Ray?"
"I'm as well as I can be," Raylan answered as the two young men slowly pushed themselves back onto slightly shaky legs, "All things considered I'd say that's as good as I can ask for."
"You ain't wrong about that," Miles said as the turn dusted themselves off, turning their bodies to face each other but still checking themselves out for any signs of injury or thorn clothing.
Raylan found no such signs of injury, nor did he feel any. And by the look of Miles, he seemed just fine. He could hear Miles mutter about still being in one piece.
"Hard to believe any of that was real," Raylan thought to himself, "But it was. I can feel the powers, my Persona, coursing through me. It's there, brought forth, and it won't be pushed deep down again. It's here to stay." He held up his hand and flexed it, closing and opening it twice. Although he couldn't see the white cracks across his arm he could still feel the power was there.
Even if he couldn't seem to summon it at this point and time.
"Can't use it in the real world?" He deduced, but that line of thought gave way to another. Raylan looked toward the sky above to find it had returned to normal. Clouded over with light gray clouds, the dark night sky breaking through on occasion revealing a few stars beyond.
"No dark mirrored city." It seemed they really were back in their own world, with no sign of the world they just escaped from to be found. Time had passed during that time, but it was as if nothing had happened from an outsider's perspective.
"No more floating city, huh?" Miles' voice interrupted his thoughts, Raylan brought his eyes back down to see Miles doing the same as he walked over to him. The young man sighed as he continued, "Just saying that out loud makes me feel like an idiot."
Raylan hummed in agreement. It was insane to think that that whole experience was real, it had actually happened to them. A city in the sky, shadows dragging them to the other side, fighting off various shadow creatures and even awakening their so-called Personas'. It all felt surreal.
And that was likely because it was.
"If you said that to anyone else they might just call you an idiot or worse." Raylan ran a hand through his hair, "But I suppose we'd be in the same boat if that was the case."
"The fact you're confirming all of that was real doesn't really help as much as I had hoped." Raylan chuckled at that. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this."
"Then we should compare notes, figure this one out together."
"The fact you're so calm about all this is unnerving, you know that?" Raylan smirked slightly at that, which seemed to help ease the tension as soon after Miles gave a breathless laugh as he rubbed his face. "Oh fuck it, let's do it." He agreed, "But let's work through this mess over some food, I'm starving after all that fighting. I both need and want some food right now."
"I won't argue against that one," Raylan replied as he glanced in the direction they'd originally been heading earlier before their whole ordeal, "Lead on Miles." He gestured for Miles to continue as they had before. "Find us another shortcut if you can, don't want to waste time right?" His attempt at a joke helped alleviate the tension even further.
Miles whipped out his phone to continue where they'd left off, "Note to self, redefine what a shortcut is." Raylans' lips twisted into a small smile at his comment as he moved to follow. The atmosphere easing even further for the better.
The two quickly rounded the corner toward their destination, and whilst they were thinking of food somewhere within their minds their thoughts mostly focused on understanding what the hell they'd just experienced and the questions they wanted to ask.
It would surely be a long discussion they had in the very near future.
Their thoughts were so engrossing that neither young men noticed the little blue butterfly fluttering in the alleyway they'd just left.
And neither noticed a car speed past the alleyway entrance they'd first entered from.
C6: End
Sorry about the delays, my bad. Other things popped up over the last few weeks, hopefully, it's all done and finished. I'll see about getting another chapter out soon. I'll make a few edits to this chapter later, fix any mistakes I spot (because I know there are quite a few that I missed). I wasn't all that happy with the chapter but a chapter still needs to be posted so here it is.
Wrapped that shit up in a nice neat mess, am I right? lol
I just wanted to finish the fight off and move on so the coming chapters could focus entirely on important details, the Velvet Room being one of them. After all, the sooner we get through those chapters the sooner we meet new characters which I know many want to see. First, though, the boys gotta have a sit-down and talk, then Velvet room shenanigans, before kicking the first major story arc off in a big way once we get through the "Aftermath" of tonight.
I'm sure there might be a few who are disappointed about how "easily" the lads beat the mini-boss but I didn't see the point of needlessly dragging the fight out for twenty minutes into three or four chapters. Sorry about that. The shadows will get both stronger and weaker at the same time, amazing.
Also, something to note, I will be using the Personas' for more than just combat. We'll see how that goes.
Anyway.
The next chapter should be longer to get us to where we need to be sooner, hopefully anyway. Hope you enjoy them!
Review Responses:
Epifanio Therion: We'll be seeing more from Raylan and Miles in the future. Expect some details to be dropped by our man Igor and his velvet room attendant soon enough.
Obie527: I thought it was both cool to have Sherlock as a Persona but also funny to have it be the opposite of Jokers, Arsene. Makes for a nice contrast I think, given how I plan for this story to go. Knights are a good choice to be fair, I'm just glad nobodies was exactly the same despite the limited selection. (You were quick on the draw with that PM, well done.)
MightBeTrav: Glad you enjoyed it! Hope I did Miles well! I feel like going too slowly would kill the pacing of the story so at times there will be things happening all at once, both for in story reasons if I can help it and pacing reasons. So, did they fight well together?
Electriuser: Thanks! I believe most people think of that version of Holmes, I was inspired by others though. Miles is a good guy, he's got Rays back!
Alien Force: Glad it was an improvement. I can't spoil that as of yet but you'll find out from Igor later on.
Roggi: We'll be learning more about the Mirrored Reality soon. The story has that name for a reason, lol. We'll hopefully see cover art of Raylan and Sherlock at some point. People seem to enjoy both Personas' so that's good to see!
CR7: I'm sure I'll surprise some people as to why the MirrorVerse might be coming back into the story sooner than expected. I doubt anyone's gonna see what I'm gonna pull coming. The truth is a big part of this story, trust me on that. "White Cape" will be back at some point.
LuxuryKiwi: The mirrorverse has had positive reception so far, let's hope that continues as I reveal more information as the story progresses. I also wanted to show how strong the shadows are without the power of a Persona, that'll come in later. We'll see "White Cloak" again in the future, we'll find out more than.
VillainLover: I'm happy to see people enjoying Raylan. The reason he did what he did will become clear later once we get to know Miles more. Just know there is a reason.
LunaticAscend: I'd never heard of that movie until you mentioned it, I wasn't expecting to find out it was actually a thing. Weird.
And that's a wrap! I'll see you in the next chapter at some point!
Till next time!
AlcatrazDGold - Peace!